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| 06 Apr 2013 06:31 PM |
| If I started now how long do you think it would take. I am a pretty fast learner |
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| 06 Apr 2013 06:39 PM |
| After a six months of luaing I was already a regular here and I'm pretty sure I was in Master Scripters before my first year was up. Lua isn't difficult to learn, especially if you're good with logic. |
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| 06 Apr 2013 06:41 PM |
id pay to learn how to script I have no idea whats so ever
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Joalmo
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| Joined: 28 Jun 2009 |
| Total Posts: 1160 |
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| 06 Apr 2013 06:53 PM |
| It depends on your goals. If all you want to do is make a button that kills you when you step on it, you could learn it in the next 5 to 10 minutes. |
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Maradar
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| Joined: 06 Mar 2012 |
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8SunTzu8
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| Joined: 30 Sep 2011 |
| Total Posts: 8199 |
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| 06 Apr 2013 08:29 PM |
I sort of stumbled around for half a year.
Then I discovered for loops...
Then I made a 500+ line script for a GUI, finally figured out how I would detect if a capture point changed when a person spawns with this GUI to select their spawn. (They can only select spawns that are owned by their team, but what happens if a spawn changes teams after you spawn with the GUI?)... Seems like a simple solution now, but it took time before I found a solution.
After that, my scripting abilities took off. It wasn't a gradual thing, I just understood it. (The Wiki became a useful tool).
So, I guess it could take 6 months to a year to be a good scripter, if you're a good problem solver and you understand logic, But it might also depend on how much you script. It might have taken me around a year to really get good, but I would go a month here and there without scripting at all.
It was just a side thing I did. Still is. I usually use my own experience to sort of answer questions like this. A single line stating an amount of time doesn't say enough. Everyone is different, but there's an average length of time somewhere in the mix.
Reading a few tutorials might help give you a string foundation. I learned a lot from just reading and posting on this forum. Even if people didn't like me. I'm sure many still don't around here... I could still learn from this forum, and not through just asking questions. I learned more about how the engine works too.
"Consider, friend, as you pass by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, you too shall be. Prepare, therefore, to follow me." -Scottish Tombstone Epitaph |
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DrHaximus
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| Joined: 22 Nov 2011 |
| Total Posts: 8410 |
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| 06 Apr 2013 08:56 PM |
For the original question, that depends on your background. But, following in Sun's footsteps, I'll recount my experience and hopefully that might help :D
After I joined Roblox, I learned scripting on and off for about a year or two. And, to be completely honest, I'm not very comfortable with Lua. I think it has something to do with the way Lua is, how I like to describe it, a language where you have to 'fill in the dots' in the way your scripts are structured. C and C++ are much more strict, they teach you that the program has to have set bounds without using the horrid 'end' word.
Then after I sort of understood Lua, had the basics of programming under my belt (variables, functions, tables (which I would later come to know as arrays...) etc), I went on to C++. It was a weird experience, and I'm still having the same experience with Assembly now. I found it hard to find any sort of documentation on what I wanted to do because everything seemed to assume I knew what it meant, or assumed I'd continue on believing (hoping) that it would all come to me in a dream and all make sense to me.
After a while I was in a better position with C++, was comfortable with the way it was typed. My fingers seemed to start knowing their way around the keyboard, knowing how something was going to be typed without having to engage 'slow thinking.' Strangely I still don't have this ability with Lua. Huh.
After that I started developing little text based, console games. I still want to get back to creating these (probably just nostalgia, I remember how stressful it was to work with the CMD window on Windows 7 *facepalm*.) After finding many issues for the way the CMD was not supposed to be used for, in comparison to what I wanted to use it for, I became restless.
After about a 6month break, I came back to C++, ready to get on with graphics. I tried to use the WINAPI, but like any decent programmer I discovered that it wasn't a wise decision using something that was operating system specific. I then instead learned to use the OpenGL graphics library in conjunction with SFML for window handling.
Although now I'm learning assembly, creating bootloaders. My next project is to create a text-based game that you can boot to, instead of having to install. This solves the learning problem and also includes the development of a text based game, a life long dream of mine.
PS: Sorry for the word wall.
- DrHaximoose |
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| 06 Apr 2013 11:47 PM |
| I went to the wiki, then went to Lualearners, then went to SH, and finally I got smart enough to know how to use the wiki as a reference. |
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| 06 Apr 2013 11:52 PM |
Thanks SunTzu and Haximus for really laying out what steps you took to learn. I didn't read it all, but I'm sure the OP will appreciate it. From what I read, it's good, deep insight.
Anyway, I'll add to that: writing scripts is fun, but reading scripts is how you'll learn. I'm not gonna say I have some policy where I read x number of scripts to get good. I honestly read nearly none. But if bettering your syntax, style, knowledge, etc. is your goal, read scripts written by more experienced scripters occasionally. If if you use Lua because making games on roblox is fun, then don't bother reading scripts. You really just have to weigh how "good" you want to be. |
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8SunTzu8
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| Joined: 30 Sep 2011 |
| Total Posts: 8199 |
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| 07 Apr 2013 08:23 AM |
It's always useful to use what other scripters have made as a reference as well. I was trying to use something that the wiki didn't provide a good example of, but I was able to check out a new gear item that I knew would be using it.
"Consider, friend, as you pass by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, you too shall be. Prepare, therefore, to follow me." -Scottish Tombstone Epitaph |
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Riderj
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| Joined: 15 Aug 2011 |
| Total Posts: 1534 |
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| 07 Apr 2013 12:44 PM |
| Depends on your age and physical development. If your not capable of making logical decisions you will have difficulties applying the things you have learned. Programming languages are easy to learn, but can be hard to apply and use correctly in solving a problem you are faced with. |
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crusada91
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| Joined: 04 Sep 2010 |
| Total Posts: 684 |
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| 07 Apr 2013 03:24 PM |
If you absolutely want to learn, it's good to first understand what functions are, data types, and things like that. But you should probably first understand the syntax.
Pretty much, anything you open you must close, and you usually close it with an 'end.' Declare variables by:
VarName = Value or local VarName = Value (If you want to limit it to the are it was applied in) |
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